Yunus gifts map to Pakistan General showing India’s Northeast as part of Bangladesh, faces massive backlash

New Delhi: Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh’s interim head, was seen presenting a Pakistani general with a controversial map depicting Assam and other northeastern states as part of Bangladesh. According to the reports, this happened when Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee chairperson, General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, visited Dhaka over the weekend and met Yunus.

It’s worth noting that this development comes at a time when Bangladesh and Pakistan have been working to improve their historically strained relations since the 1971 Liberation War. Yunus, on Sunday, tweeted images of his meeting with the Pakistani general. However, an image of Yunus gifting a book, titled ‘Art of Triumph’, whose cover carried the distorted map of Bangladesh, to Mirza has triggered outrage.

After the post, the interim Bangladesh chief faced sharp criticism on social media for encroaching upon India(BHARAT)’s sovereign territory. The Ministry of External Affairs has yet to issue an official response to the controversy.

Our two countries will support each other: Bangladesh to Pakistan

Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza has said Islamabad was willing to deepen ties with Dhaka as he met Bangladesh’s interim government chief Muhammad Yunus here.

“Our two countries will support each other,” Chief Adviser Yunus’s press wing quoted Mirza as saying during the meeting, which was held at his official Jamuna residence late Saturday.

The press wing statement said they “discussed a wide range of issues concerning Bangladesh-Pakistan relations, including growing importance of bilateral trade, investment and defence cooperation”.

It said they exchanged views on the growing challenge of “misinformation and the misuse of social media by non-state actors to undermine peace and stability across various regions”.

“Fake news and disinformation have flooded social media. It is being used to sow chaos. There must be a concerted global effort to combat this menace,” the statement quoted Yunus as saying to the Pakistani military leader.

According to the statement, Mirza emphasised the shared historical, cultural and people-to-people ties between the two countries and expressed Pakistan’s desire to strengthen cooperation in multiple sectors.

Mirza noted that a two-way shipping route between Karachi and Chittagong was operational while a Dhaka-Karachi air route was expected to open within months.